THIS isn’t your grandma’s Christmas carol.
When Phil Kline’s “Unsilent Night” hits the streets again this year, he and his 1,000 or so “carolers” will be ringing in the holiday season – but not with “Deck the Halls.”
Instead, the composer will be giving out cassettes, CDs and MP3s of his 44-minute wordless ambient music piece to a small army of boombox-equipped fans who meet yearly at Washington Square Park for the event. In unison, they push play and make their way through Greenwich Village to Tompkins Square Park, led by the sounds of the electronic Christmas carol.
So if it doesn’t have fa-la-las or jingle bells, what does this carol sound like? “It sparkles and sings and sometimes contemplates the stars in the night sky,” explains Kline, who says that “Unsilent Night” was born from his love of electronic music and his memories of caroling as a kid in Ohio.
Whatever it sounds like, people seem to love the annual event, which started here 16 years ago. While New York’s “Unsilent Night” draws some of the biggest crowds (more than 1,000), the annual Christmas event has become a tradition in more than 25 cities worldwide.
This year’s “Unsilent Night” kicks off at 7 tonight at the arch in Washington Square Park. Visit unsilentnight.com for details.